Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) has been introduced as an additive for unleaded gasoline since the 1980's by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). It was licensed as a lead replacement because of the potential accumulation of lead in the environment and adversely affects human health. MTBE has been known to increase octane and oxygen levels in gasoline and thus reduces pollution from petroleum products emission.
Owing to its widespread use, MTBE has now been found to be in contamination levels in underground water, surface and also in the air near some fuel facilities. There are a number of sources through which MTBE is released into underground water: leakage from petrol storage and distribution tanks, spills, drips, lawnmowers, emission from marine engines into lakes, from air deposition, leaks from pipelines and above ground storage tanks. MTBE is highly inflammable, soluble in water, not easily absorbed in soil, moves along with ground water and resists biodegradation which makes it a difficult contaminant to work with. Being highly hydrophilic in nature, removal of MTBE from water from commonly used and known methods is ineffective and costly.
Some of the known methods are absorption on activated carbon, use of air stripping, biological degradation (Vandenbergh et. al., 2006; Salanitro Joseph et. al., 2002) ultra violet/hydrogen peroxide (UV/H2O2) process (Stefan et al. 2000) among others. However, none of the treatments have provided a complete and safe solution for the removal of MTBE from contaminated sources.